Maisie Cousins’ Plays With Attraction and Disgust

Unconventional photographer Maisie Cousins rejects ideals of beauty in her photos, reversing aesthetics of nudity, femininity and nature. Cousins often experiments with provoking the senses in the presence of her photography. To enhance this, she collaborated with perfumer Azzi Glasser, who created a scent to accompany her works. The photographer depicts different sides of nature without focusing exclusively on the notion of stereotypical ‘beauty’. Instead, she also displays parts that are often described as ‘ugly’ or ‘weird’. With her experimental approach, Cousins has the intention to evoke attraction and disgust at once, which has become her signature style. Cousins’ photography has been acknowledged by not just the art world, but also the fashion industry. Her work was displayed at the Tate Britain exhibition highlighting innovative representations of the human body, and her work has been featured in distinguished publications such as Dazed and i-D.